Wearing the traditional blouse ie and folk costumes means pure emotion, connection with Divinity and the ancestors, and the love for these items of clothing is transferred to the younger generations by the Flacara Prahovei folklore orchestra through the power of example.

The orchestra is part of the Paul Constantinescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Ploiesti.

"At us, at Flacara Prahovei orchestra, there have always been great names of Romanian folklore - Ion Dolanescu, Tiberiu Ceia, Ileana Constantinescu, Maria Vaduva, Ileana Sararoiu and many, many others. I think that all great artists who can bring the public to music venues have collaborated with us," soloist Traian Francu tells AGERPRES.

The orchestra performs suites from the Prahova area as well as other folklore areas, both dance and instrumental suites, and the attires of the performers always match the areas.

"I say that we were not born in the country of Bach and Beethoven - which is not a merit or a disadvantage - but we were born in the country of Miorita. The first form of musical manifestation in our country is folklore, being the most precious and the one with which every Romanian identifies at all historical stages, going as far back as possible," says soloist Gelu Voicu.

Voicu and Francu have real collections of genuine traditional blouses, old items, personal heritage items, as they like to call them, but they emphasise that their wealth consists in their significance, not in quantity. In order to preserve them and prolong their lives to leave them as a testimony, the two also wear costumes made by workshops.

"I have old and very old costumes, old blouses, but, in order to preserve more of them, I have turned to a household arts workshop and I also wear newer costumes because if we don't make them, we don't have them anymore. I am proud of some very old costumes, embroidered blouses, slit costumes. They are between 80 and 200 years old. One of them I think is at least 200 years old. A wedding suit... I should say that it would be 150 years old, but that was worn when brides dressed in traditional garment, not in a veil," says Francu.

He owns about 40 blouses some of which he wears, some of which he only exhibits. At his home in the village of Slon he has a real museum dedicated to folk art and folk costumes.

Voicu has about 80 costumes for both girls and boys, some complete, others not, all genuine, all from the dowry chest, and he confesses that half of them were purchased, and the others he received.

To both of them, the moment when they wear the folk costume is precious and loaded with meaning, "a pure connection with the ancestors."

Voicu points out that for men there is no ie, but a traditional shirt, showing, at the same time, the symbolic richness of these items of clothing.

"For women, the ie blouse is for holidays and weddings only, while their everyday attire - especially the one worn for working in the household - consisted of other blouses, as the ie was for holidays. They sewed their shirts in sittings, they sewed them all together; on the other hand practically every Romanian peasant woman who would thread the needle would sew them secretly so that neither their neighbour, nor their aunts, nor their grandmothers would find out. When they went out for a dance on Easter Sunday or the second Easter day, they would show up dressed up in the ie , then the others in the community would get a glimpse of what the others sewed separately and it was as personal an identification as possible and everyone had to have their own stitch, to be different. That's why this variety exists," says the soloist.

There is also geographical variety. In the plains, where floral abundance was much more impressive, the costumes are very brightly coloured. The closer you get to the hills and even to the mountains, brown, dark green, black and geometric shapes predominate, too few flowers. "In the mountainous area, even flowers are made of geometric shapes inspired especially by the existence of the fir tree which, in the popular wisdom of all areas of the country, means the tree of life," says the artist.

According to the two soloists, the folk costumes reflect codes of age and profession, also related to the specifics of the area - shepherding, plains, vineyards, mountains.

The Flacara Prahovei instrument players have worn Romanian folk costumes in many countries, such as France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, and found that interest in them is growing a lot, all the more so that the Romanian traditional blouse has made it to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. AGERPRES (RO - author: Anamaria Constantin, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)

Photo source: 'Flacăra Prahovei'  folk orchestra